Torture should be used on crims: QC

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A former chairman of the National Crime Authority has spoken out
in favour of torture, saying it should be used against terrorists
and in domestic criminal situations.

Peter Faris (Faris), QC, today welcomed the debate sparked last
week by the head of Deakin University's law school, Mirko Bagaric,
who said torture was acceptable in some circumstances.

Mr Faris chaired the national crime body from 1989-1990, has
acted as a senior prosecutor and has represented high-profile
clients such as alleged underworld figure Carl Williams.

Mr Faris said it would be acceptable to use torture in criminal
investigations.

"A psychopathic murderer has buried a teenage girl alive and he
is captured by the police," an example on Mr Faris's blog website
says.

"He refuses to say where she is. He taunts the police with his
knowledge. Torture is acceptable to find the girl and to save her
life."

Mr Faris said his example was taken from the film Dirty
Harry.

In the case of terrorism, Mr Faris says: "A militant Islamic
group in Iraq is holding a hostage in an unknown location and is
threatening to kill the hostage.

"A member of that group is captured, but refuses to disclose the
whereabouts of the hostage and the rest of the group. Torture is
acceptable."

He said there were no guarantees that torture would work - "if
you don't get the information, you don't get the information".

However, "to pull out a fingernail of a terrorist in order to
save a couple of million lives" was morally right, he said.

"I'm not saying 'let's legislate immediately'," Mr Faris
said.

"What I'm trying to establish is that this is a legitimate issue
to be on the table for debate ... but people start saying you're a
Nazi because you want to debate it."

Mr Faris said legislating for torture was not an ideal
situation.

"It's certainly not a society we want, the problem is these
problems are thrust upon us by war ... they may be thrust upon us
by a psychotic individual."

On his website, Mr Faris says "we are at war with terror and
militant Islam in the Middle East. We are at war with Islamic
terror in our homeland.

"From time to time, circumstances will occur where it is
necessary to use physical force on a captured person to obtain
critical information."

Mr Faris said standards of acceptable torture would have to be
set if it were to be used.

"Some sort of standard would have to be developed for the
reasonable application of pain," he said.

The National Crime Authority was replaced by the Australian
Crime Commission in 2003.

Meanwhile, Professor Bagaric last week attracted an avalanche of
criticism, after revelations of his support for torture.

Torture survivor groups, civil libertarians and some of
Professor Bagaric's university colleagues reacted with dismay at
news of a paper co-authored by him, which would soon be published
in the United States.

The paper, also written by Deakin law lecturer Julie Clarke,
argues the case for the torture of suspects - even to the point of
death - in a bid to obtain information.